---
description: |
  The amazon-ebsvolume Packer builder is like the EBS builder, but is
  intended to create EBS volumes rather than a machine image.
layout: docs
page_title: Amazon EBS Volume - Builders
sidebar_title: EBS Volume
---

# EBS Volume Builder

Type: `amazon-ebsvolume`

The `amazon-ebsvolume` Packer builder is able to create Amazon Elastic Block
Store volumes which are prepopulated with filesystems or data.

This builder creates EBS volumes by launching an EC2 instance from a source
AMI. One or more EBS volumes are attached to the running instance, allowing
them to be provisioned into from the running machine. Once provisioning is
complete the source machine is destroyed. The provisioned volumes are kept
intact.

This is all done in your own AWS account. The builder will create temporary key
pairs, security group rules, etc. that provide it temporary access to the
instance while the image is being created.

The builder does _not_ manage EBS Volumes. Once it creates volumes and stores
it in your account, it is up to you to use, delete, etc. the volumes.

-> **Note:** Temporary resources are, by default, all created with the
prefix `packer`. This can be useful if you want to restrict the security groups
and key pairs Packer is able to operate on.

## Configuration Reference

There are many configuration options available for the builder. In addition to
the items listed here, you will want to look at the general configuration
references for [AMI](#ami-configuration),
[BlockDevices](#block-devices-configuration),
[Access](#access-configuration),
[Run](#run-configuration) and
[Communicator](#communicator-configuration)
configuration references, which are
necessary for this build to succeed and can be found further down the page.

### Optional:

@include 'builder/amazon/ebsvolume/Config-not-required.mdx'

### Access Configuration

#### Required:

@include 'builder/amazon/common/AccessConfig-required.mdx'

#### Optional:

@include 'builder/amazon/common/AccessConfig-not-required.mdx'

### AMI Configuration

#### Optional:

- `snapshot_groups` (array of strings) - A list of groups that have access to
  create volumes from the snapshot(s). By default no groups have permission
  to create volumes from the snapshot(s). `all` will make the snapshot
  publicly accessible.

- `snapshot_users` (array of strings) - A list of account IDs that have
  access to create volumes from the snapshot(s). By default no additional
  users other than the user creating the AMI has permissions to create
  volumes from the backing snapshot(s).

### Block Devices Configuration

Block devices can be nested in the
[ebs_volumes](#ebs_volumes) array.

@include 'builder/amazon/common/BlockDevice.mdx'

#### Optional:

@include 'builder/amazon/common/BlockDevice-not-required.mdx'

@include 'builder/amazon/ebsvolume/BlockDevice-not-required.mdx'

### Run Configuration

#### Required:

@include 'builder/amazon/common/RunConfig-required.mdx'

#### Optional:

@include 'builder/amazon/common/RunConfig-not-required.mdx'

### Communicator Configuration

#### Optional:

@include 'helper/communicator/Config-not-required.mdx'

@include 'helper/communicator/SSH-not-required.mdx'

## Basic Example

```json
{
  "type": "amazon-ebsvolume",
  "secret_key": "YOUR SECRET KEY HERE",
  "access_key": "YOUR KEY HERE",
  "region": "us-east-1",
  "ssh_username": "ubuntu",
  "instance_type": "t2.medium",
  "source_ami": "ami-40d28157",
  "ebs_volumes": [
    {
      "volume_type": "gp2",
      "device_name": "/dev/xvdf",
      "delete_on_termination": false,
      "tags": {
        "zpool": "data",
        "Name": "Data1"
      },
      "volume_size": 10
    },
    {
      "volume_type": "gp2",
      "device_name": "/dev/xvdg",
      "tags": {
        "zpool": "data",
        "Name": "Data2"
      },
      "delete_on_termination": false,
      "volume_size": 10
    },
    {
      "volume_size": 10,
      "tags": {
        "Name": "Data3",
        "zpool": "data"
      },
      "delete_on_termination": false,
      "device_name": "/dev/xvdh",
      "volume_type": "gp2"
    }
  ]
}
```

-> **Note:** Packer can also read the access key and secret access key from
environmental variables. See the configuration reference in the section above
for more information on what environmental variables Packer will look for.

Further information on locating AMI IDs and their relationship to instance
types and regions can be found in the AWS EC2 Documentation [for
Linux](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/finding-an-ami.html)
or [for
Windows](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/WindowsGuide/finding-an-ami.html).

## Accessing the Instance to Debug

If you need to access the instance to debug for some reason, run the builder
with the `-debug` flag. In debug mode, the Amazon builder will save the private
key in the current directory and will output the DNS or IP information as well.
You can use this information to access the instance as it is running.

## Build template data

In configuration directives marked as a template engine above, the following
variables are available:

- `BuildRegion` - The region (for example `eu-central-1`) where Packer is
  building the AMI.
- `SourceAMI` - The source AMI ID (for example `ami-a2412fcd`) used to build
  the AMI.
- `SourceAMIName` - The source AMI Name (for example
  `ubuntu/images/ebs-ssd/ubuntu-xenial-16.04-amd64-server-20180306`) used to
  build the AMI.
- `SourceAMIOwner` - The source AMI owner ID.
- `SourceAMIOwnerName` - The source AMI owner alias/name (for example `amazon`).
- `SourceAMITags` - The source AMI Tags, as a `map[string]string` object.

-> **Note:** Packer uses pre-built AMIs as the source for building images.
These source AMIs may include volumes that are not flagged to be destroyed on
termination of the instance building the new image. In addition to those
volumes created by this builder, any volumes in the source AMI which are not
marked for deletion on termination will remain in your account.

## Build function template engine variables

For the build function of [template engine](/docs/templates/engine), the following
variables are available:

- `SourceAMIName` - The source AMI Name (for example
  `ubuntu/images/ebs-ssd/ubuntu-xenial-16.04-amd64-server-20180306`) used to
  build the AMI.

@include 'builders/aws-ssh-differentiation-table.mdx'
